Thursday, February 12, 2009

Shadow's Apex Part 15: Continents & Geography (Physical Geography)

Last time, we added tectonic plates and some basic wind currents to the world map of Vidarr. If we were following the process of the World Builder's Guidebook perfectly, today would consist of placing mountains and hilly regions on the map using the fault lines as guides. However, since we started with a map that already shows mountain ranges, we can completely skip the first part of chapter three and move into climate and terrain types of the places our heroes will spend the majority of their time.

Finally, we zoom into the regional map. Back in the fall, I created a map of the immediate region around Verge, the town in which the heroes will begin their careers. Now I need to find a location on the world map in which the map I made a while back will fit. We'll say that Verge is located somewhere on the coastline that is highlighted here (you may have to enlarge the image to see the red box clearly):

Next, I choose dominant climate and terrain. The climate should probably be subtropical, as it lies just north of the equator. Thus it will be warm for the majority of the year and winters will not be terribly cold except at high elevations. For terrain, however, no choice is really needed because much of it has already been laid out for me by the fractal mapping software. The towns are on or near the coastline of an inland sea, and although there is a fair amount of grassland and light forest within a hundred miles or so of the coast, the dominant terrain of the region as a whole is domineering mass of mountains northwest of Verge. In fact because they are such a dominant feature, those mountains need a name that stands out. No good names are forthcoming at the moment, though, so I'll keep it in mind for a later update.